First: Beer garden before it was overrun.
Second: The haunting entrance to the roll call area of Sachsenhausen, translates to "Work Makes You Free".
Third: A picture set up by our guide, I was repping the West side of the wall, while a New Yorker was repping the East.
Fourth: The semi-destroyed church.
Berlin, a city of incredible modern historical significance, and a city in which we deemed our visit was too short-lived. Our first night landed on the Germany v. Portugal quarterfinal, which made the viewing all the more significant. We watched the game in the oldest beer garden in the city with a crowd of painted German fanatics, some hearty bratwurst and a lager mixed with Sprite (definitely a German thing, drinkable but not recommended). It was crazy to see the reactions of the locals as Germany unexpectedly took down the Portuguese. The next morning we awoke to visit one of the first concentration camps in Germany. Sachsenhausen camp was an incredibly eye-opening/surreal experience. It’s one thing to learn about the atrocities in school, but to actually see the sights and relics was intense beyond description. We went to bed that night to the seemingly endless sound of horns honking in celebration of Turkey making it to the semi-finals of Euro Cup (Berlin has the 4th largest Turkish population of any city in Europe). The next morning we set off on a free walking tour of the city led by a Welshman named Barnaby. This was an amazing experience as we were treated to all of the history, both bad and good by a guide with a Master’s Degree in 20th Century Political History. From all of the amazing buildings, to the Berlin Wall, to Hitler’s bunker/place of death all with detailed and fun explanations, we definitely got more than we paid for. That night, we were treated to one of the, well, most odd experiences of our trip so far. On a recommendation, we visited a bar called Dr. Pong. Picture 30 people surrounding a ping-pong table, paddles in hand, rotating counter-clockwise around the table playing a match of ping-pong. People stepped down when they failed to return a shot, so as the numbers dwindled the pace of the game shot up until it came down to two, wherein a normal game was played to 7. Some of these players were absolutely fierce, and this became apparent when it came down to the final group. On our last day, Kaylin was determined for us to fill in all of the blanks we had yet tackled from our travel guide. A few synagogues, the Jewish Museum, a Berlin Wall Museum with the most well preserved length of the wall (including the death strip), a climb up the parliament building with a breathtaking view of the skyline and finally a dusk-time (10pm) visit to a cathedral that had been hit by allied bombs during the war but was not repaired as a reminder of the war itself. At the end of our stay, we sadly bid auf wiedersehen to the wonderful city of Berlin.
Mark and Kaylin
Berlin, a city of incredible modern historical significance, and a city in which we deemed our visit was too short-lived. Our first night landed on the Germany v. Portugal quarterfinal, which made the viewing all the more significant. We watched the game in the oldest beer garden in the city with a crowd of painted German fanatics, some hearty bratwurst and a lager mixed with Sprite (definitely a German thing, drinkable but not recommended). It was crazy to see the reactions of the locals as Germany unexpectedly took down the Portuguese. The next morning we awoke to visit one of the first concentration camps in Germany. Sachsenhausen camp was an incredibly eye-opening/surreal experience. It’s one thing to learn about the atrocities in school, but to actually see the sights and relics was intense beyond description. We went to bed that night to the seemingly endless sound of horns honking in celebration of Turkey making it to the semi-finals of Euro Cup (Berlin has the 4th largest Turkish population of any city in Europe). The next morning we set off on a free walking tour of the city led by a Welshman named Barnaby. This was an amazing experience as we were treated to all of the history, both bad and good by a guide with a Master’s Degree in 20th Century Political History. From all of the amazing buildings, to the Berlin Wall, to Hitler’s bunker/place of death all with detailed and fun explanations, we definitely got more than we paid for. That night, we were treated to one of the, well, most odd experiences of our trip so far. On a recommendation, we visited a bar called Dr. Pong. Picture 30 people surrounding a ping-pong table, paddles in hand, rotating counter-clockwise around the table playing a match of ping-pong. People stepped down when they failed to return a shot, so as the numbers dwindled the pace of the game shot up until it came down to two, wherein a normal game was played to 7. Some of these players were absolutely fierce, and this became apparent when it came down to the final group. On our last day, Kaylin was determined for us to fill in all of the blanks we had yet tackled from our travel guide. A few synagogues, the Jewish Museum, a Berlin Wall Museum with the most well preserved length of the wall (including the death strip), a climb up the parliament building with a breathtaking view of the skyline and finally a dusk-time (10pm) visit to a cathedral that had been hit by allied bombs during the war but was not repaired as a reminder of the war itself. At the end of our stay, we sadly bid auf wiedersehen to the wonderful city of Berlin.
Mark and Kaylin
2 comments:
i'm pretty sure i recommended a few of those berlin sights when i was researching and living vicariously through you guys! :D
Just realized you can post a comment...anyways sounds like you guys are having fun and looking forward to hearing more. By the way the writing about the trip sounds very profesional you should publsih this!
Post a Comment